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Memory- Do i need it and if so, Where from?

N

nursewho

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 30, 2012
3
0
Hello. I have a Late 2009 Macbook with the 2.26 GHz Intel Core Duo and the 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory. Under the storage tab, I have a 250 GB SATA Disk. I'm not that bright when it comes to computer things, But it says I have 60 GB free out of 250 with my photos and movies and such and I thought this was maybe conflicting, With the memory right under "About this Mac" says 2 GB but that's probably something completely different. My main question though, I plan on probably saving a lot of things to my computer in the near future and maybe that'll slow things down or i'll fill it all up and some more memory might help. I've heard not to buy from Apple as they're ridiculously expensive (200$) and I should buy from somewhere else and I was wondering if you had any recommendations where to. I saw on one website to buy the same amount as Apple but for 30$ but both say "4GB" and I think I stated earlier in this post about my confusion with 2GB and the 250 GB SATA Disk.

I probably sound clueless in this post but thank you.
 
nursewho said:
Hello. I have a Late 2009 Macbook with the 2.26 GHz Intel Core Duo and the 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory. Under the storage tab, I have a 250 GB SATA Disk. I'm not that bright when it comes to computer things, But it says I have 60 GB free out of 250 with my photos and movies and such and I thought this was maybe conflicting, With the memory right under "About this Mac" says 2 GB but that's probably something completely different. My main question though, I plan on probably saving a lot of things to my computer in the near future and maybe that'll slow things down or i'll fill it all up and some more memory might help. I've heard not to buy from Apple as they're ridiculously expensive (200$) and I should buy from somewhere else and I was wondering if you had any recommendations where to. I saw on one website to buy the same amount as Apple but for 30$ but both say "4GB" and I think I stated earlier in this post about my confusion with 2GB and the 250 GB SATA Disk.

I probably sound clueless in this post but thank you.
Click to expand...
The 250GB is referred to as disk space (as opposed to memory), and is used for permanent storage of your operating system, apps, and user data. It doesn't slow your computer down if you have things stored on your drive, unless you're almost out of space. It's a good idea to leave 10% of your drive space free... more is better. If you start running out of space, you can get an external disk drive to move some of your data to, or you can buy and install a larger internal disk drive.

Memory, or RAM, is the 2GB that you referred to, and is used by your Mac for things that are currently running. Your Mac manages RAM, making it available to running apps as they need it. If you run low on RAM, it can slow your system down, since your computer has to write contents of RAM to your hard drive before the RAM can be used to store new information.

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor (in your /Applications/Utilities folder) and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:
 
If you are considering upgrading your physical memory (The RAM they GGJ explains so well in his post) visit Crucials site and run the free diagnostic tool there. This will tell you if you can upgrade the amount of RAM in your Mac.

It's 100% safe to use:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/systemscanner/MacOS.aspx

It will also ensure you purchase the right modules for your machine. Installing it is a simple process and is detailed by Apple themselves:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1651

Just choose your model in the list.
 
nursewho said:
Hello. I have a Late 2009 Macbook with the 2.26 GHz Intel Core Duo and the 2GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory. Under the storage tab, I have a 250 GB SATA Disk. I'm not that bright when it comes to computer things, But it says I have 60 GB free out of 250 with my photos and movies and such and I thought this was maybe conflicting, With the memory right under "About this Mac" says 2 GB but that's probably something completely different. My main question though, I plan on probably saving a lot of things to my computer in the near future and maybe that'll slow things down or i'll fill it all up and some more memory might help. I've heard not to buy from Apple as they're ridiculously expensive (200$) and I should buy from somewhere else and I was wondering if you had any recommendations where to. I saw on one website to buy the same amount as Apple but for 30$ but both say "4GB" and I think I stated earlier in this post about my confusion with 2GB and the 250 GB SATA Disk.

I probably sound clueless in this post but thank you.
Click to expand...

I have the 2010 edition of that macbook and I recently upgraded my ram from 2GB to 8GB.. I bought mine from OWC while they were having a sale last week. They get pretty good reviews and they're pretty cheap. You should look at them. OWC also sales HDs too.
 
RAM upgrades are a great idea. I upgraded to 8GB in my MBP and noticed a difference plus with the price of RAM coming down it can be done on the cheap. YOu can check your ram usage but using utility monitor and see what your page outs are any thing significant about about 1gb you will benefit from more RAM.
 
Wow! Thank you! You guys are so helpful in this forum! Especially GGJstudios. Very thorough. I appreciate it a lot. Thank you.
 
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